I know it's a bit early for this poem, but I'm officially in the holiday spirit and had the time to work this up so... Happy Thanksgiving everybody - hopefully we'll have at least one good game to watch tomorrow. The best to you and yours.

'Twas the night before Christmas, and sportsline was ripe - with blogger's exitement and NFL playoff hype;
We'd posted our stories on the boards with great care, In hopes holiday trolls would stay far from there;

Jimmy_the_Greek planned to be up all night, preparing the turkey by soy candlelight;Yanks 1in99 fell soundly asleep, as he dreamt of the Jets - and Brett Favre going deep;

IGetNoRespect could not rest on his lounge, because more Bengals injuries had forced them to scrounge;Rob Toxin knelt praying as Matt Schaub's knee swells, for he couldn't take one more week of Sage Rosenfels,

As Jokest5894 sat up in bed, and circled his choices with glee vs. the spread;Sircheecks tiptoed lightly downstairs to approach, for a peek 'neath the tree for a brand new head coach;

momluvs in her 'terrible towel' kerchief, her man in Colts jammies to give her some grief;Jellydonut leaptout of his bed with a "Yipe!", as he feared that perhaps someone else found his pipe;

And I with my football brain skull powder blue, had just lost more points for a comment on 'poo';
Not a blogger was stirring - not a hot thread in sight, as the sportsline community had called it a night

When on the front page there arose such a clatter, momluvs logged back in to check on the matter;
Away to the sign in, she typed like a flash - her password she entered, her keyboard she bashed.

The web on the screen shined a light on her face, like the lustre of Pittsburgh's Super Bowl Trophy case;
When, what did appear like the "nutcracker" dancers? But a thread with five pictures - and eight stupid answers;

With a funny old writer - sunglasses in tow, She knew in a moment it was Shuless Joe;
More rapid than thread trolls, his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now CLARK JUDGE - Now FEEMAN - Now PRISCO and BLACKBIRD! On HARMON - On KNOBLER - On JAMIE EISENBERG!"

"To the top of the page - to the top of the site! Now, write away - write away - write away ALL DAMN NIGHT!"

'Twas the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson, alright - and his cigarette holder was covered in ice!
A big bundle of goodies he carried inside, as the rest of us ran downstairs - eyes open wide!

The stump of his holder held tight in his teeth, as smoke encircled his Tilley hat like a wreath;
Though a black and white photo with no third dimention, he knew what to give without even a mention.

For Greek he brought spices and jars full of sauce, for Jokest a "push" - instead of a loss;sircheeks was so happy he started to cry... five more weeks with Derek for a proper "good-bye"

Jellydonut could not hide the smile on his face, as he hid his old pipe in its own brand new case;Rob Toxin was given a gift oh so vital... a 2009 Texans division title!

momluvs's gift was simply too good to be true, a movie and dinner with Troy Polamalu;
For Respect and BigBlu was a stocking of coal, "I'm sorry," said Joe "'twas the result of my poll."

Off the boards Joe did log as if shot by a missle, And "POOF" went his writers like Hochuli's whistle;
But I heard Joe exclaim, ere his avatar took flight,
"HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"

Desparate Derek's last shot to hold off the Mighty Quinn.

Everybody's in despair,
Every girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here,
Everybody's gonna jump for joy.

The Giants' second prime time appearance this season is Monday, when they head to Cleveland to face the Browns (ESPN, 8:30pm ET).

The Browns are 1-3, and the next in a long line of "weak" teams (as most pundits choose to categorize them) New York faces at the front end of their schedule. I'm not one who believes in "trap" games; trap games are excuses for mediocre teams. Judging by the way Tom Coughlin, Kevin Gilbride and Steve Spagnola have prepared the team each week, they don't believe in them either. With the exception of a pumped up Cincinnati team that took them to overtime, the Giants have disposed of the "weak" teams (I hate saying that) as "stronger" teams should.

Everyone knows that Washington will not be the same team New York saw in their first prime time affair. Everyone knows that the last 8 weeks of the Giants' season schedule is the NFL equivalent of a Tsunami; they'll need to find higher ground to avoid being engulfed by the onrushing wall of divisional games and playoff-caliber teams they'll face. Every win under their belt heading into week 9 against Dallas is another plateau of land that protects them from the tidal wave.

The Browns are a different story. Lauded as a potential Super Bowl team in the off-season, Cleveland has stuggled to put points on the board in all four of their games. Derek Anderson's accuracy is nowhere near what it was last year; in fact, Derek Anderson's everything is nowhere near what it was last year - and there's no rhythm or bite to the Brown's offense as a result. With each passing game (no pun intended) the Cleveland fans come down harder on Anderson, and it won't be long before Romeo Crennel gives up on him. Sing along everybody:Come all without - come all within - you'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn...

Will Quinn the Eskimo get here by the 2nd half on Monday night, or will Anderson pull himself together and survive to play for another day? Time will tell, but to that end the "things to do" list for the Giants on Monday is pretty simple.

1. Bury Derek: Blitz early, blitz often, then blitz some more. If the Giants offense does it's job and the Giants defense rattles Anderson into making mistakes, the fans will start booing and the Dawg Pound will start barking. When the fans boo and the Dawg Pound barks, we'll see the Mighty Quinn.

3. You can run, and they can't hide: The Browns actually have a pretty impressive secondary. Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald are developing into a solid pair of Cornerbacks. Safety Mike Adams is quick and smart (2 tackles, 1INT vs. Cincinnati on 9/28). While the Giants passing game is strong - and the urge to rekindle that connection between Manning and Burress is justified - the giants may find more success on the ground and shouldn't be afraid to run more than usual. Since the Browns D-backs have played so well (allowing 184 yards per game), it would make no sense for them to crowd the box to stop the Giants running game and leave themselves prone to the deep ball. If The three-headed monster of Jacobs, Bradshaw and Ward could get a minimum of 10-15 touches apiece, the Giants could devour the clock and at the same time keep Cleveland from loading up the line for fear of being beat deep.